Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 4-0 at home in the last Premier League round and now The Citizens have collected 43 points, just one down from Leicester and Arsenal. Pellegrini’s players are on a run of 5 league match without a defeat. They lost for the last time on 21st December 2015 (2-1 to Arsenal). But when The Citizens are the visiting team, they are not performing as well as when they are at The Etihad Stadium. Manchester City won only 1 of their last 7 away matches in The Premiership.

Moreover, West Ham haven’t lost a home game since 22nd August 2015 when The Hammers were defeated 3-4 by Bournemouth. Slaven Bilic’s players are lying in 6th position and are 9 points behind the leaders. If The Hammers keep playing the same way, they can make a serious challenge for the Champions League places.

West Ham surprised The Citizens in the last match between these two teams, winning 2-1 at The Etihad Stadium. Victor Moses and Sakho gave the 2-0 lead to West Ham. De Bruyne scored for City, but his goal wasn’t enough to save the team.

Team News

Manchester City’s captain Vincent Kompany will miss another match for his team. The Belgian is suffering from a calf muscle strain.

Fernandinho, Mangala, Bony and Nasri are also injured for The Citizens. Mangala has a hamstring problem, so does Samir Nasri.

Sakho and Lanzini are injured for West Ham United. Manuel Lanzini will resume full training at the end of February, while Diafra Sakho will be ready to play within a week.

Andy Carroll is the main omission for The Hammers. The striker has a hamstring problem and will return to the pitch after a month.

Quotes of the week

Slaven Bilic (West Ham) :“If you’re approaching a girl in a nightclub and you think she’s gonna tell you off and all that, no chance.”

Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City) :“I hope to remain with competitive teams in Europe, I am not thinking about returning to Chile at least for the next three or four years.”